I left mortality on May 3, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah, grateful that I lived long enough to celebrate nearly 60 years with my sweetheart, Chuck White. Our children who survived us have been a joy to us. They are Sylvia , Glen(Jones), Laureen Decker, and Nathan (Tanya) White. I look forward to a reunion with Aaron who died before birth and Gwen who died shortly after birth.
I was born May 1, 1936, in Moab, Utah, the youngest of four children of Sid and Lucile Pace. My dad was a cattle rancher in the La Sal Mountains 45 miles from Moab, so I looked forward to summers in the mountains for the first 19 years of my life, until I was married. I loved the beauty, solitude and freedom of living in a huge landscape in which I could roam on foot and on horseback. I was content with a quiet life, and the animals around me were my friends.
I also loved school and attended grade school in Moab. When I was eleven years old, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, which changed my life forever. Little was known about this disease, so I had to grow up at age eleven to take care of myself and learn the skills to preserve my life each and every day.
When I was in junior high school our family moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. In high school I met and fell in love with Chuck. I attended the University of Colorado on a scholarship for my freshman year of college, and then earned a scholarship to the University of Utah after Chuck and I were married in 1955. I graduated in 1960 with a BA in English, a high school teaching certificate, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Beta Phi.
I believe my purpose in life was primarily to be a good mother and to nurture Sylvia, Laureen, and Nathan. I love my seven grandchildren greatly too, Sylvia's Nicholas and Abigail, Laureen's Britt and Jake, and Nathan's Sydney, Collin, and Madeline. I now get to love my great granddaughters, Nicholas and Jamie's Taylor, Cortland and Kennedy. I appreciate the role Glen has fulfilled so lovingly with Sylvia in rearing Nicholas and Abigail. Likewise, Tonya has been a remarkably efficient and yet fun mom for her children and a devoted wife to Nathan.
During the years Chuck and I were raising our family we had the opportunity to live not only in Utah but in California, both north and south, and in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. We loved every new city where Chuck's work took us.
In 1983 our nest was empty. By that time we were living in Utah again, so I decided to go back to the University of Utah, a place where I had always found joy in learning. This time I sought a Masters Degree in Social Work and then worked for several years in public health. For a few years after retirement I attended classes at the U of U, studying political science and philosophy.
I cherish my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and especially enjoyed my callings as a Relief Society President and teacher, as early morning Seminary teacher in San Diego, and as Institute Instructor at the University of Minnesota.
I have also loved hiking the canyons of the Wasatch Front and the many fascinating places in the red rock country of Southern Utah with my friends, husband and son. I have felt a closeness to my cats over the years as if they were human, and I felt the same way about the horses that were mine in my youth.
In the solitude I cherish I have read hundreds of books and listened to great music. My life has been blessed but, in the end, 67 years of diabetes finally slowed me down to a complete stop.
(At Anne\s request, there will be no funeral service. Following cremation, Anne\s remains will be scattered in her beloved La Sal Mountains at the ranch of her childhood. Those wishing to honor her memory are encouraged to make a donation to the American Diabetes Association.)
